


3700 years in the making

by Tsubasa504



Series: Stone world [1]
Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Gen, oneshots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24936094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsubasa504/pseuds/Tsubasa504
Summary: Senku grasps Taiju's wrist and doesn't let go. He can't for the life of him. It's 3700 years of loneliness and Senku's not sure he'll wake up alone again, so he tightens his hold and doesn't let go.
Relationships: Ishigami Senkuu & Ooki Taiju
Series: Stone world [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808605
Comments: 2
Kudos: 87





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic on AO3. I've only ever written for ff.net before and feel like trying to start publishing at other places.  
> Comments and reviews are always welcomed!

Senku’s a dreamer. He’s curious about a lot of things, but he wouldn’t say he’s intelligent. Just curious. There were too many unknowns and not enough brainpower and not enough manpower, and Senku wants to know everything.

Earth is just one planet and Senku wants to know all planets. And he wants to be an astronaut.

His teachers think he’s too young, but Byakuyan just smiles and buys him a telescope, and Senku learns you’re never too young to be a dreamer.

Dreaming, however, could never prepare him for years frozen as stone. Years of darkness and the monotone drowning of his own voice counting. Always counting. It had been a natural reaction because of all things, Senku is claustrophobic and counting helps.

He’s mildly curious and mildly frightened. Oddly enough he can still feel his heart racing, which means he’s alive, but how? There are no sounds. There is nothing really. Just him and his internal self and he’s _curious_.

At some point he stops dreaming of being an astronomer and starts dreaming of a stone future. He’s counting and his hypothesizing and his brain is tired and sometimes feels sluggish. One day there will be something again. There has to be. And for that, he counts. He never stops because the possibility of what happens if he stops is unpleasant.

He’s up in the millions now. A number he never thought he would count to. Why would he? There had never been a need to.

The first time he counted up to a year was the first time he stopped believing in reality. The number was momentous: 31,540,000. His brain was tired and a blank darkness was lapping at his consciousness.

When four years passes in his counting, Senku wishes himself a happy birthday. He’s mildly amused because this future doesn’t fit with his primary school essay on what he wishes to become as an adult. The one where he declared he was going to become an astronaut. Senku’s an adult now. Twenty years old and not one step closer to his dream.

He tells himself it’s okay and continuous counting. Age is just another number and Senku’s becoming good at them, so it doesn’t matter. There is a new dream now.

Twenty is the year he starts planning. He had seen the people around him turn to stone before darkness took over. He had seen Taiju and Yuzuriha by the tree, and he knew that one day he would break out of this stone prison and there would be a world waiting for him.

It _had_ to be spring. And for that day, he counted.

He counts 50 years, 100 years, 1000 years and it never stops.

3000 years and he doesn’t feel much like a dreamer any longer. Just desperate. Because there had to be more out there than just this dark unfeeling prison. Senku has places he wants to go. Places to see and things to do, and he still wants to be an astronaut. He’s tired of stone, and he’s tired in general.

The value is too high and humans weren't meant to count this high. It’s high enough of a number that Senku thinks he’s no longer human.

When the first crack appears it is April 1st of the year 5738 in the Western calendar.

* * *

The world is the same. Just it’s not, because there is a person before him, in stone, and it’s creepy and it's telling and Senku doesn’t feel happy being right.

The air is fresh if a little cooler than he remembers Japan being at this time of year. It's heavy and rich in earthy smells, and Senku’s skin itches for a shower. He’s awkwardly naked.

He can’t help but continue counting as he fixes his stone pile in order of which it fell off. He feels awkward and sluggish and his arms and legs ache without having done any real work. Like gravity is heavier. Maybe it is. Either way, Senku hasn’t moved for over 3700 years.

He flinches at the screech of a nearby bird. The world is large and scary and there are no towering cities to protect him.

He’s naked and that needs to be fixed. It needs to be fixed first before he can start thinking of his aching stomach because it's protection and it doesn’t matter if it works or not but it makes him feel better.

Makes him feel a little more human after the stone darkness.

The first day passes in a blur, and it's the 2nd of April and Senku has never hunted and he doesn’t know why he even tried. He has also never made fire and he’s frustrated. That night he falls asleep in a tree, shivering and pulling uselessly at nearby branches for any protection against the biting wind.

On the third day, Senku tries to talk. He knows technically it's only been three days of silence for him, but 3700 years of stone darkness doesn’t dampen the crack in his voice or the stutter as he tries to articulate himself to nearby monkeys. They screech back.

Senku knows human nature. He loves it. He loves all parts of the human and because of that he doesn’t stop the tears that fall on the fourth day. It’s human nature to cry when you're lonely and, by the gods, Senku is lonely. There are only stone statues and screeching monkeys and Senku wishes for a voice other than his own.

That night he searches out for Taiju. If there is one man who can break out of the stone like him, it's Taiju. So he pushes and pulls and drags his heavy stone encapsed friend into the nearby cave that contains nitric acid. It's a pretty strong corrosive, so he can only hope for the best that it will crack the outer layer of the stone. Taiju will surely do the rest after that. He just doesn’t want to be alone any longer. It’s selfish and maybe not quite right, but Senku needs Taiju. He needs him for his strength and he needs him because he’s his friend. He just needs someone to know he won’t be the only one. It's only been four days but it seems to be a lonely dark future and Senku can’t stand that.

Senku comes back everyday for five days and nothing’s happened. Not a single crack. He clenches his hands into fists and he’s so frustrated and so tired and nothing works like he needs it to.

After a month awake, the world becomes slightly easier. The heavy weight on his chest has lifted some and the counting is a quiet thing in the back of his mind. There are many things he doesn’t think he’s intelligent enough to do, but Senku has always been curious and in his mind that beats intelligence. So he knows how to make a trap and to catch an animal, and meat has never tasted more delicious. He also knows how to build himself a tree hut even though he has never tried before. But that's just mathematics and getting the physics correct and things like that he’s good at. So he builds himself a tree house. Then he builds himself a laboratory because above all he’s a scientist and he doesn’t like physical labor and in the laboratory he can do make believe that he’s still at school and that this is a weird field trip.

Sometimes he wants to call Byakuya.

Alone as he is, he learns that he misses many things: he misses telefones and he misses people; he misses food and the ever annoying constant hum of human civilization.

If he’s a dreamer, then he should go big he tells himself. He should rebuild the world. All seven billion people. It’s a large dream, but so was visiting other planets, and there is no one to doubt him here.

So he dreams and he plans.

After that fourth day, Senku doesn’t allow himself to cry. The world is big and scary and there really is no time for crying. There is a goal everyday and as long as he can meet the goal he knows he can keep the tears at bay. It takes energy to cry so Senku thinks it's better to put that energy into other uses.

Taiju is still in the cave and the monkeys are still screeching at him. Really, few things have changed in the months he’s been awake. It’s a humbling experience because if this was 3700 years ago, Senku would have had at least 5 exams by this time and have been expected to have his university plans laid out and started. The old world expected quick action and quick results, but now everything is slow and Senku wishes for quick action and quick results.

Nights are lonely. It's the time of day where the counting is too loud and when the wind is cold and the sounds of the world turn scary even though it sounds the same during the sunny days. Nights are better if he doesn’t sleep, but Senku knows sleep is important and yet he sits quietly in his laboratory working through the night. Before the petrification, Senku had never been truly afraid. Now it's something he’s deeply conscious of. It has become a part of him. Sometimes he tries to smile fearlessly at the wooden shelves filled with petrified birds. He tries to stand tall and act cocky, but in the end his heart beats fast and his hands shake. He’s afraid of being awake and if he was honest with himself he would wish to be back in the stone darkness.

Autumn is fast approaching and with it the weather turns for the worst. The wind howls like never before and the trees bend to its will. Senku goes hungry for the first time since waking up and it takes days before he shimmers out of his tree house and into the forest to scavenge for food. The woods are quieter now. Every animal has taken shelter. They are biding their time just like him. Waiting out the fowl weather.

Senku’s stomach growls and he can’t wait longer.

Winter is not quite right around the corner but it’s close enough, and Senku worries. He knows he might not survive. Senku’s a scientist, not a survivor. He has ideas and dreams, but no physical strength to carry all of them out.

He needs Taiju.

The stone world has taught Senku that movies are shit at being honest because he doesn’t grow stronger by living in nature. He’s weak constantly. There aren’t enough nutrients to grow his muscles and not quiet enough protein to run on the energy he wants. Sometimes he’s lightheaded, other times he’s nauseous. Everyday is never satisfying enough, and Senku wishes for fast food and salt.

* * *

It’s three millennia in the waiting when Taiju appears before him. Technically it's only six months, but Senku almost falls off the branch in relief when he sees him.

He still doesn’t allow himself to cry even as he hears his friend’s cry of happiness, but his eyes prickle and he hides it by swiping at his nose, arrogant, confident. Words that don’t quite define him any longer. He sidesteps the hug mostly because he’s sure he would crumble happily into his friend’s arms and that’s not how he wants to be seen after so long alone.

It’s Taiju, his best friend, but even so he can’t relax and be honest. Being honest would mean having to explain about the constant counting in the back of his mind. It would be about explaining how he practices speeches with monkeys that screech back, and it would be about explaining about how he can’t sleep.

It’s too many things and too fast. So Senku’s cool and calm and tells Taiju what he knows. He acts like it's a typical day 3700 years ago, but in reality his heart is racing and his hands are shaking and there is a voice other than his own.

* * *

When night falls, Senku goes with Taiju to bed. They are a good one meter apart and Senku dearly wants to push closer like he had never wanted before. He swallows against the itch to reach over and to grasp a hold.

It’s a quiet night for once and the counting is louder than ever. Taiju is so close and Senku can’t help but wish he was closer.

“Good night, Senku.”

The words are a quiet whisper in the small tree house and Senku chokes on his reply. “Sleep well you big oaf.”

Sleep never comes. Senku lies happily awake all night staring at Taiju, taking in the rise and fall of a chest and the loud snores of his friend. Taiju seems relaxed and that’s how it should be.

The days go slower now. Maybe it's because he’s not alone. There are things to do and things to talk about. Taiju is bright and happy and as dedicated to Yuzuriha as he has ever been. But Taiju is also a lot smarter than Senku usually gives him credit for.

When Senku’s too preoccupied to pull away, Taiju leans over to swipe a calloused thumb under his eye. “Do you sleep?”

A simple, stupid question and Senku’s not prepared to answer. “Of course.” it comes out half-assed and far too much like a lie for his liking and Taiju isn’t buying it.

“I’m sorry.”

Tsking, Senku swipes the hand away and glares over at his friend. “What are you apologizing for you big oaf?”

His usually bright smile is small and pained and Senku wants to shrink back because there are feelings there and there really is no need for words. Senku would never blame his friend anyways. That would just be stupid.

“I should have been awake earlier.”

Act normal, Senku tells himself and stares up at the cloudy overcast sky. “Don’t be stupid.”

But words have been said now and Senku can’t act for shit, so when night falls he reaches over with a hesitant hand to ball it into Taiju’s leather shirt. He’s not sure what he expected, but he feels himself go limp and loose when a warm hand tugs his a little higher and holds it tight over a strong beating heart. Taiju shuffles a little closer and for once the night isn’t so cold.

He knows he’s shaking. That’s just normal, or it has become normal, and he grips Taiju tight. If his friend notices he says nothing.

He’s almost asleep when Taiju whispers into the night. “I’m sorry I took so long to wake, Senku,”

Senku just grunts and tightens his hold. “Just don’t do it again.”

* * *

Sleep becomes easier when you’re not alone. The counting won’t stop but at least there’s heat next to him now and a strong steady hand that usually grasps his hand tightly. The hold is like a promise and Senku’s sure that when his eyes close he won’t wake alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Taiju’s passionate and he’s in love. But right now he’s stone, though that doesn’t dampen his passion and it only increases his determination. He’s in love and she’s waiting, and Taiju should be there with her.

He shouldn’t be stone!

The world might be dark and he might not be able to move. So what?

His eyes only see straight forward even in this stone darkness and his heart beats true no matter how many years or millennia pass.

‘I’m going to live!’ His heart screams and with each passionate cry his consciousness remains. ‘I need to tell Yuzuriha how I feel and for that I’m going to live.’

_Yuzuriha, wait for me._

* * *

Taiju knows he’s not smart, but he has also learned that that’s okay. So even though he doesn’t understand how this came to be, he knows to just remain himself and that things usually have a way of working themselves out. After all there is a reason there are so many people in the world and that’s because when they all work together doing what comes naturally to each of them, things happen. Senku has taught him that, and if Senku says so, then Taiju won’t argue back because Taiju’s a protector and a doer and he’s not much of a thinker. Senku calls society an orderly mess and Taiju smiles with the words and is happy to be part of that world, because as long as it contains Senku and Yuzuriha, Taiju will accept any orderly messy society that the world might throw at him.

So even though he’s stone and he’s partly afraid, he has learned to trust in Senku and in himself and he knows one day he’ll be out there again.

* * *

When it breaks, he coils his muscles and springs; then he’s free. The world is big and green and Taiju’s laughing before he’s completely up on his feet.

“It’s really stone,” he murmurs to himself and lifts up some fragments to inspect. He contemplates crushing it in his grip, but then lowers it gently to the ground. “Thank you for protecting me.” Because that’s what it had done. It had kept him alive and well and Taiju now lives again, though the world was greener and the air stuffier. Movement is weird, but he’s unhurt and that’s what matters.

The stone world is sad and Taiju’s manly enough to cry for those terrified stone faces that gape horrified out at him from all corners of the forest. Many of them are broken and Taiju breaks a little with them.

The ground is tough and hard and he tramples over it with determined steps. He’s not much of a thinker so when he comes up on the river he doesn’t doubt that it's the Sumidagawa, and that means that this is home.

Home might not be the same, but Taiju’s heart says all that matters and it says this is home. That this is where school is, where Senku is and over all where Yuzuriha is.

“Yuzuriha.”

His voice cracks a little and he laughs it off. He drinks from the water and wraps himself in vines because even though he’s not bashful the intense stone gazes are a little too knowing.

Slapping himself hard on the cheeks he perks himself up. “You’re waiting for me, Yuzuriha, right. I’m coming now.”

Stone statues fill the new world and Taiju can’t help but fascinate over how many there are. He probably shouldn’t be surprised as there were over a million people in Tokyo alone, but they are everywhere and Taiju feels small and insignificant and just a little weirded out when he comes upon people he knows. Like the strongest primate high scholar, and he can’t help but freeze up upon the sight. The man’s stone statue is as hard and strong as the man himself. A man above men.

“So even you became stone.”

The world feels more real than ever and Taiju’s impressed by the feeling of being alive. Everything is heightened: his hearing, his smell, his taste; even the pain in his feet from the hard ground and the itch to his skin where the bugs land.

Yuzuriha is waiting and his heart is pounding.

She’s where he left her. Sun filters down from the canopy, encasing the stone statue in its bright giving light and Taiju can’t help but feel transfixed by the sight. He swallows the tears and wets his parched mouth. “You survived…” He hadn’t doubted that she would, but she’s whole and protected and worries are a thing of the past. “And you’ve been alive here…this time...ever since that day, haven’t you? The camphor tree has protected you all this time, hasn’t it? Good job tree!” He feels weak with happiness and he’s so grateful that if he could shed more tears he would. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. No…in fact, it was you who protected me. All this time, you’ve been protecting me, Yuzuriha.”

There is so much love. If he could give more love his heart might just erupt.

_I love you. I love you so much, Yuzuriha. I’ve loved you for hundreds, thousands of years._

Determination is his middle name and Taiju is fucking determined. “Please wait just a little longer. I will save you…” he’s trailing off and blinking confused.

“Follow the river you big oaf,” he reads. The letters are just behind Yuzuriha’s stone head. A message for him from...

Senku.

There is a ball in his throat and the world just shrank and surely that is ringing that is in his ears. “You’re alive, right, Senku?”

There is little time to contemplate what he is doing, before he knows it he’s running and jumping and following the river. His heart is in his throat. It’s in his ears and the world is smaller and the air is heavier and Taiju wants for something so badly that he’s not even processing what the want is.

“Senku!” His voice echoes and the wind carries it.

“So you finally woke up you big oaf,” answers his call and Taiju’s elated because Senku’s there and wrongs will be righted and the stone darkness is a thing of the past.

He doesn’t allow himself to stop when light hair with green tops appears in his sight. He doesn’t slow down or hesitate as he lounges himself at his friend. The kick he gets is worth it and he laughs off the pain and takes in Senku with longing eyes. And maybe because of that, he also doesn’t miss the fine tremor that courses through his friends body. The way his eyes can’t quite keep contact or the way he stiffly moves as if he’s holding himself back.

Taiju notices, but doesn’t really comprehend. There is too much in one day and all he can think is that he’s not stone and that he’s not alone.

* * *

Taiju’s not worried about the bugs and the screech of nearby monkeys are just funny. The world is weird, but it is still his world so that’s okay. His state of dress is just freeing and if anything he kind of enjoys how loud the forest seems to be. There are no cars or air conditioners or any of the normal city hum, but the world is loud and Taiju enjoys every sound it makes.

“Is this freedom?”

Senku’s giving him a weird look and Taiju hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

“I guess,” Senku answers. His voice is hesitant and Taiju stops, freezing in place, head tilting because he’s confused. There is something there and Taiju doesn’t know what. “Depends what you’re free from.”

“Clothes,” Taiju laughs.

Senku snorts by his side and his voice isn’t hesitant any longer. “Only you would want to go streaking around naked. There is nothing freeing about having all your private bits bitten into by bugs and bushes.”

That’s true. Taiju feels itchy down there and wants to scratch.

* * *

“You made all this from zero?” It’s wonder and it’s amazing, and the tree hut is high up and Senku’s a small guy.

“Yeah.” Senku is looking serious. His face is a little harsher and Taiju hates himself for having been stone. “It takes all my energy to just get by day by day. I haven’t enough manpower. I’ve been waiting for you all this time. Yes, you, you big idiot. I was 10 billion percent sure that you were still alive.”

Taiju cries because he’s happy and he’s humbled and Senku has been waiting for him. The tears are short lived because there is enough self hate in there to dry them up. Senku’s been waiting and Taiju had let him down. For six months.

The bite of his nails against his palm is calming. The world is real and they’re alone and Taiju has a job to do. He needs to project what’s important to him and he needs to help. Senku’s tired and he’s not saying anything, but Taiju knows.

“Yeah. You’re the brain, Senku, and when it comes to manpower, just leave it all to me!”

* * *

They fall into rhythm. There are things to get and food to make and the tree house needs to be expanded on. Taiju falls asleep tired at night and it doesn’t take him long to figure out it might be on purpose that Senku’s driving him to exhaustion. There are bags under his friend's eyes. There is a tired slope to his shoulders and Taiju knows Senku.

Has known him close to a decade. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that Senku’s not sleeping. And Taiju is determined to make up for the times he was gone and he won’t back down from being caring.

“Do you sleep?”

He should have started his question on a lighter note, he thinks because Senku looks like a ghost just walked passed and Taiju feels ashamed, but he also fears for his friend.

“Of course.”

If he could go back to the past and add more determination and want into his need to break free he would do so. “I’m sorry.”

He’s so sorry. He might have spent thousands of years thinking of Yuzuriha, but if there is one thing Taiju is not afraid of it is his heart. And for all he loves Yuzuriha, he also loves Senku.

Apologizing is one thing. Knowing what to do is another. So when Senku reaches out for him that night Taiju tightens his hold and is glad Senku sought him out. He feels the light shaking and smiles sadly into the night. Senku’s small next to him. He’s curled up tight and Taiju wishes he noticed quicker.

Life after that is not peaceful. Wrongs have not been righted and Senku’s not being honest, but Taiju is learning.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt the other two chapters were so serious that I wanted to try my hand at something lighter. A little fluff. Please enjoy.

The winds have turned colder and Senku smiles more often and everything isn't so serious. There is room for mistakes and there is room to relax. Christmas is approaching and Taiju can't help but feel his heart swell in pride at the fact that Senku knows this. That Senku counted. _Is still counting?_ It's equal parts disturbing and fascinating and he loves his friend. It's a small part of the old world that's with them. A small part that would never be there if Senku wasn't here. Senku might be human, but his ability to remember, to count and to be so straight in his analyses, that's special and it's not quite human.

Taiju loves him no matter.

Some things they don't talk about and Taiju's getting tired of skirting subjects that have no need to be hidden. He's tired of Senku being tired. Nights are a time when neither of them hide, but it's also the time when words choke in his throat and he talks himself out from reaching over to pull his shivering friend closer. Hands are clasped tight and Taiju likes _that_ , but it doesn't stop Senku's shivering and it doesn't stop him from tossing and turning.

Months are passing and it's still only them. Senku's working hard and maybe he's working a little too hard. Taiju's happy that he's being thought of; thinks Senku is trying too hard for him, and for Yuzuriha. Re-building civilization is a huge goal and only Senku can accomplish it, so Senku should sleep more and he should take better care of himself.

Taiju grunts and scans his friend who is sitting tinkering with clay next to him. The dark circles are still there and the skin is taut around his face and his wrists are skinnier. There are many signs that Senku's not doing well, but the weight loss is the one that bothers Taiju the most.

He shimmers away to pick an apple or two.

"What?" Senku grunts and pushes them away when he returns. "I'm not hungry. Seriously, what are you thinking?"

"That you're skinny. You should eat more, Senku." He stands determined, arms crossed and looking at the apples on the ground with narrowed eyes.

Senku stares right back, amusement flickering his lips up. "I've always been skinny."

Taiju doesn't care. He just wants Senku to eat—to be healthy—because he's worried. "Winter is coming," he grunts out.

Senku rolls his eyes and picks one of the apples up. "Yeah. Yeah, it is. But you know apples won't help with weight gain."

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away," Taiju quotes. His mother had been adamant about eating an apple after every meal and Taiju had forced that tradition on Senku. Now, in the stone world, keeping tradition isn't so easy. Apples only grow once a year and they only have so much of them.

"There are no doctors here."

It's quiet and Taiju loses his stable stance to shuffle awkwardly. The reminder was unnecessary. "I don't want you to get sick."

With a grunt Senku bites into the apple and Taiju feels the knot in him loosen some. "You take the other," Senku says and Taiju doesn't fight back, just smiles and collapses down across from his best friend to bite happily into the too sour fruit.

* * *

There is a light atmosphere when Christmas comes and with it comes the snow.

At first it storms and then the world is different. Where there once had been green there is now only white. The very land has become magical. It shines and shimmers and even the darkness of night has been chased away by it.

Taiju loves snow. He's never seen it fall as it does now. It's not city snow and Senku tells him it's not northern snow either. The stone world is special in all it gives them, and the air is fresh and the moon's ring shines bright over them, blanketing the stars. Taiju didn't know the moon had a ring and Senku tells him it can only be seen on very clear cold nights.

It's special and it's only for them.

"Merry Christmas, Senku," Taiju says as he looks up at the bright shining moon whose light is reflected back at it from the snow covered ground. He likes to imagine that this is the earth's way of letting the moon know he's not alone up there, and it feels magical. Taiju's a romantic and this ethereal light is a promise of companionship.

Senku's next to him and his eyes are distant and he's smiling and today is special.

"Merry Christmas you big oaf."

* * *

New year is approaching and Taiju rolls himself deep into their fur and feathered blankets. Night's are lighter with the snow and he keeps a careful eye on Senku who is backlit by the opening of their treehouse. His friend has been up more lately. He sleeps less and workers harder. Taiju doesn't get why. He thinks they should follow the advice of the rest of the forest animals and hibernate. It's cold and if he's cold then Senku's freezing. If he squints he can make out the fine shivers of his friend and it causes him to grunt in irritation.

He's close to getting up and dragging Senku into the blanket mound.

"Don't go outside," he mumbles.

Senku is affronted and though Taiju can't see his face he can feel the stare. Taiju chuckles and keeps from reaching over to pull his friend into the heat with him.

"There is a 1 mm chance I'll venture out there into the cold," Senku retorts. His posture might scream insulted but his voice is playful and light.

"Then come join me."

Pearls of laughter greet his words and Taiju pouts into the blanket. Shivering, he pulls them closer and peaks his eyes out back towards Senku. "Why'd you laugh?"

"You seriously asking me that you big oaf?"

"It's cold. You should come over here. You'll catch a cold."

"There is a 10 billion chance that I might and that won't be good," Senku says and is already pulling himself up onto his feet. "There are no antibiotics here. And three millennia is long enough for bacteria to have evolved into superbugs."

Taiju follows his friend as he nears the blanket mound. It doesn't matter if there are superbugs or what not out there, Taiju won't allow Senku to become sick. He gives little thought of his action when he drags his friend tight into the little mound. Pleased and happy as he presses Senku's cold hands between his own and pulls him close.

Taiju is not bothered by the cool feeling of Senku's feet or hands and is just happy to provide his friend with much needed warmth.

Senku, though, growls at him and tugs gently at his captured hands. In the end, he doesn't pull away, but he does grumble and complain and Taiju's not listening. His eyes are closing and it's better like _this_. Senku's close and the cold is being chased away between the two of them. If Yuzuriha was here as well, then the world would be perfect.

Next winter, he promises and tugs Senku a little tighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The moon's light ring is sometimes also called a moon halo.


	4. E=mc^2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going back a little in the story till it was only Senku alone in the stone world

—Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations, produced by enthusiastic effort and infinite labor in every country of the world. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honor it, add to it, and one day faithful hand it on to your children— Einstein, 1934

Loneliness tugs on Senku and he might be going crazy. He is desperate and needs a better plan. Sometimes he feels like the answer is right in front of him. If he could just reach out, then the answer would be right there, just on the tip of his tongue. There are stone statues that need to be resurrected and Senku's brain is not working.

"Why did my stone break?" It's the hundred dollar question. Everyday it's the same question and everyday he's not one step closer to an answer. Why his? What was special about him and not the others.

His fragments were just a coating, but if he breaks a statue then the whole statue is stone, and Senku can't give an answer for that. Why is his a thin stone fragment while others are not? Magic doesn't exist and there has got to be an answer. It's only logical.

"Dammit!"

It's one mistake after the other.

"Okay, Senku. If Einstein was here what would he do?" He groans and collapses down on the ground. "That's a stupid, stupid question." Why would Einstein even be here?

The world around him is quiet for once and there is a cool wind rustling the upper parts of the trees. Now and then, a flock of birds will screech as they travel from tree to tree searching for a place to rest for the night. It's peaceful.

It's a world he could have never imagined. It doesn't contain books and it doesn't contain contraptions. There is nothing but him and forest life. Senku needs answers and they certainly don't grow on trees.

"What about Lipinski?" He scrunches his nose and waves the name away. "No. Maybe, Dalton or Curie…" None have an answer for what he needs. "Berzelius, Faraday, Avogadro." Names and more names. Too many scientists and none that might help. At least that he can think of.

"Marie Curie worked with fission and that's too advanced. Why am I even thinking about that? Bohr might have an answer… or not. It's just atoms and what do I know of atoms? What do I know of matter? Dammit!"

There is knowledge and there are equations but none explain how organic matter turns inorganic or how it then reverses. Reality is not making sense and Senku can't find an answer. He's thinking of matter. He's thinking of flesh and life and carbon atoms together with phosphorus atoms, and none of that fits into sulfur atoms and sodium fluoride crystals and inorganic matter.

Except Marie Curie might actually have an answer.

Senku sits up, not even realizing that at some point he had thrown himself down upon the hard ground. Night is falling but Senku feels there is something there. "Radioactive decay…"

His small, thin stone fragment says it all. "My stone decayed while others did not."

It's a start. It's not all, but it's a start and his heart is pumping and his cheeks are hurting from the grin that tugs at them. "Breakdown of matter releases energy. And everyone knows heat is energy and everyone knows there is an equivalence between heat and work, and, oh…"

Everything is racing. Everything is falling into place and there is no room to be wrong. His answer is here, it's passed the tip of his tongue now and Senku knows.

In this world there is no paper and pen, but there is blood. He doesn't stop to think as he rips into this thumb with his teeth, gnashing through the first dermal layer to get at the blood vessel underneath.

"What would Einstein do if he was alive?" Senku grins. "It's obvious. He would go with the one law that's always true: E=mc^2.

* * *

Knowing energy doesn't just disappear and knowing mass doesn't either isn't an answer of itself, but it does give Senku a clue. Using one's brain takes work which uses energy and energy has to go somewhere.

It's not foolproof but it's close enough and that means anyone can wake that has been awake long enough as a stone statue. It means 3719 years is how long it takes for the internal energy to overcome the external energy and it's all you need to crack.

"Taiju, you big oaf, I know for certain you're in there. That you're awake, aren't you. So wake up!"

Senku is 10 billion percent sure that Taiju will break open just like he did. There is no doubting that.

It's six months of waiting and going crazy and believing nonstop in an hypothesis that follows the fundamental rule of the universe.

He is laughing at the sight of Taiju before him, confused but whole, and of course, it's all thanks to one dead man. So when Taiju asks him about the equation written in blood, Senku just grins and presses his hand reverently down upon it. "It's the answer to the stone question," is all he says. It's partially true, and the rest is just as a thanks because the one equation kept him sane for almost six months, and whether it is the full answer to their problems doesn't matter because it was answer enough for what Senku needed.


	5. Chapter 5

In a sunflower field Chrome becomes a man with a purpose. Ruri is coughing and someone has said she is dying. The wind is a quiet whisper around them, pocketing them off into their own private little bubble. It's Ruri and it's Chrome, and between them there is a promise.

"I'll save you, Ruri. I'll search this whole wide world. I'll look under every rock and into every cave and I'll find the thing that can save you. I won't let you die."

Ruri smiles and she coughs, her hand is shaking but she's gripping him tight. Words float between them, but in the end, little needs to be said.

* * *

Chrome might be young, but it only increases his determination. He feels the pitying looks of the villagers. He hears their whispers. None of it is new and none of it changes how he feels. He fights through the scoldings and he fights through the bullying. There is pain in his back from where he has been pushed and there are scrapes on his knees from when he diligently picked each and every flower up that the village boys spread out over the ground with sneers on their faces. They might not understand but one day Chrome will show them.

Each day he scavages. He searches and he learns. One day is not close enough and each cough from Ruri sets his nerves a twist. In the woods, there is only him and the stone people. He's careful to skirt around them, careful not to touch or bump into them. Others in the village throw them into the river or hurl them down the steep slopes, but Chrome is careful. They've been spoken of for generations. They've always been there. Watching over the world. A show of human expression upon each and everyone of their faces. Stories tell of sorcery and dark intention when mentioning them. It's taboo to carry one of them into the village and for that Chrome is thankful. Sometimes he wonders if they ever start moving will they move slow like stone? Will they creak and groan like old wood?

Or will they be human?

He shudders and moves faster in his picking. Today is a new flower and a new type of rock. Everyday is a little deeping into the woods and little further from the village. Soon he'll hit the base of the mountain.

When he returns he hears whispers of sorcery and tilts his head. Eyes track him to his hut. It's a small safe haven. From floor to ceiling it is lined with his findings. Categories and organized into their own little woven baskets.

"Chrome, the village chef wishes to speak with you?" It's another boy around his age, taller, more muscular. There is a cold look in his eyes and he takes not one step into Chrome's hut, but he sneers at his surroundings and backs away when Chrome approaches.

"Okay. I'll go now."

"Yes, better not keep them waiting." He leaves quickly.

Chrome doesn't follow his retreat with his eyes. He hunches his shoulders and ventures out into the village square towards the large hut situated on high wooden pillars to overlook the village. Inside there is only the village chef.

"There has been talk of sorcery," the man starts. "Forbidden magic in my village."

Chrome shuffles, wrinkling his nose. "What does that have to do with me?"

A large eyebrow raises upon his question. "Are you not the one performing magic?"

"I'm not," he defends himself weakly, eyes downcast. "I'm just trying to help Ruri."

"With magic?"

"It's not magic!" he shouts. Realizing he has spoken out of line he quickly reverts his gaze down at his feet. A shudder passing up his back. "I'm trying to find a cure."

"The other villagers don't feel the same. They worry you are bringing the anger of the gods down upon us. And I agree," the village chef says, coming closer to loom over Chrome. "I want you to stop. You're young, you don't realize what you are meddling in."

"What about Ruri?" Chrome glares up at the large man with the small amount of courage he can muster. "What about her and her sickness? If we just worked together and learned more about the world. Learned more about the different types of flowers and stones. I'm sure we could save her!"

The backhand he receives upon his words is stinging. He curls his shoulders tight up around his neck and cradles the reddening cheek in shaking hands.

"You speak out of line," the man sneers. "Do you not think I, too, want to save my daughter. But the gods have already decided her fate. We can do nothing but enjoy the short time she has left."

Chrome shakes his head, tears stinging hot in his eyes. "We could do more."

"Speak no more of your sorcery."

"It's not sorcery." It's a pathetic last attempt. The village chef doesn't care. He's already made up his mind and Chrome won't be winning him over. "There are no gods to anger."

"Get out!"

Chrome jerks back, eyes flickering to the large man's hands to make sure they won't lift again. "What?"

"Out. I'm tired of this discussion." The village chef turns abruptly and returns to his high chair. "Let me not hear word of more sorcery, do you understand?"

Swallowing nervously, he nods meekly. "I understand."

* * *

If in a sunflower field Chrome became a man then it is high up on the mountain tops that he becomes a sorcerer.

It's late in the year and Chrome might have been scolded, but he's young and he's determined and for all he fears the village chef he fears for Ruri's life more.

"What's up, sorcerer?"

He steps wrong upon the words and almost goes catering off the mountain edge. Kohaku is there in a second, braising him and taking some of his burden. "Kohaku, what are you doing here?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? Honestly, what can be so interesting that your nose is practically one with the mountain side?"

"Oh, I'm looking for these blue stones," he says and holds up a darkly chucked stone with fine blue rocks embedded in it. "Isn't it pretty."

Kohaku's smile wavers at the edges but she doesn't push Chrome away as he shows it to her. "Sure…"

Grinning he leans down to search for some more. "So, why are you here?"

"I come to get the hotspring water for my sister."

"For Ruri? Hotspring water?"

Kohaku smiles and relaxes down next to Chrome, shuffling some of the rocks around. "Yeah. In the old stories that my sister speaks of it says it has magical properties."

Chrome sits up straight at that. His breath in his throat. "Magical…"

She looks up and over at him curiously. "Well, wouldn't you know best, sorcerer."

The denial of his trade sticks in his throat and he shakes his head. "The village chef doesn't want magic in the village..."

Kohaku grumbles next to him and throws a rock over the edge. "Hey!"

"Yeah, the old man is a stinky old man," she says, sulking. "He's just a coward."

His eyes widen and he doesn't dare to look back up at Kohaku. No one had called the village chef a coward to him before. No one would dare.

"He tells me to stop my sorcery." The words are out before he can stop them. He's not thinking. He just wants someone to know. Someone to talk to. Someone who might understand that it's not about angering the gods and it's not about fighting against fate. It's just a promise and a want and a desperation born from unwillingness to let someone go without trying.

Kohaku shuffles a little next to him and takes a deep long breath. It's quiet around them and Chrome thinks he might have overstepped his boundaries again. "And will you?"

He blinks and looks up. "Will I what?"

"Stop the sorcery?"

There is nothing to say because the basket of rocks says it all and Chrome is looking at it with frightened eyes as if it can disappear with his will alone.

"Don't," Kohaku says, turning to grab a hold of his hand tightly. "Sorcery, magic, whatever. I don't care. If it can save Ruri-nee, then don't stop. Don't you dare stop."

Chrome is shaking. There are tremors through him and words are choking in his throat and all he can think about is Kohaku's strong, desperate grip on his hand.

"Please," she whispers, "don't stop looking for a cure."

There is heat and the heavy thumping of his heart and there is something now other than scolding. It's a reminder of a promise he wouldn't have broken either way, but now it's also a strength and a barrier against the heavy, watching eyes of the villagers.

"You want me to be a sorcerer?"

Kohaku grins, wide, a mouth full of teeth. "Oh no, Chrome. I don't want you to just be a sorcerer, I want you to be the best sorcerer."

"The best?"

She pushes closer and looms in a non-threatening manner. "What? You don't think you can?"

"Of course I can!" He shouts, fire in his eyes. "For Ruri, I'll be the best damn sorcerer this village has ever seen." Squaring his shoulders he meets the challenging eyes of Kohaku's with his own. "No. I'll be the best this world has ever seen."

Between them there are frightful smiles and the beginning of a friendship that will turn village life up on their heads.

* * *

Exile isn't quite exile because it's something of an impasse between him and the village chef. No sorcery inside the village, those were his words, and with Kohaku by his side, the village chef can do nothing but accept the little hut being built just across the bridge. Chrome takes his exile happily. The watching eyes of the villagers are gone and the disgruntled murmurs that usually follow him have quieted. The village boys look on with cool sneers on their faces as he leaves. And when they come for him later that night, Chrome throws the reddish stone into the fire and watches it go blue. "You dare tread on the sorcerer's land," he calls out.

The following shocks of scream and uncoordinated scrambling makes Chrome chuckle. He throws some more and allows a deranged smile to grace his features.

It's good to get back at them after all these years.

* * *

Chrome learns that magic is _something _and with his newfound title as sorcerer he relishes in it even more. The careful barriers he had constructed to keep peace with the villagers have fallen away, and Chrome doesn't hesitate to call his workings sorcery. With Kohaku as his aid and protector there is no need to fear retribution. As for the gods, well, he never believed in those to begin with, so as he mixes his concoctions and chants his spells, the gods are just stone statues with human expressions.__


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fun to throw in for the night before I go to bed.

There are tall tales being told. Tales of a land and people who Chrome has little in common with other than the ground he walks upon. People who lived in tall buildings, 20 stories and more! Senku calls them Skyscrapers, and Chrome can only look up and marvel at a world where buildings scrapped the sky and people lived in the clouds.

"How did they travel all the way up to the top? It must have taken days to climb."

Senku laughs and starts drawing into the dry dirt covered ground before them. "They used elevators."

"El-e-va-tors," Chrome says slowly and tries to imagine what sort of contraption would have such a name.

"That's right. Simply explained, it's a metal box that gets pulled up and down by wires."

Chrome knows metal and he knows box, but it doesn't explain how people traveled with it up and down, or even how they fit into it!

"Wouldn't the boxes be too small? How did they fit?"

Senku follows his direction of sight and contemplates the small metal rod that is sticking up some distance away. "Ah! Well, we're talking about hollow metal boxes 2 by 2 meters and equally tall. There would be doors on one side and a group of people could stand in it."

"In the darkness," Chrome cuts off.

"No, we'd have light inside."

Chrome tries to imagine getting into a box that closes him into a small space to pull him up and off the ground into the sky above the trees. He shudders.

"You must have had many strong people who did the lifting," he says quietly, rubbing his arms as if to ward off a muscle ache.

The green-topped haired man chokes on his water and looks at Chrome with wide startled eyes. "Lifting?"

Frowning, Chrome tries to figure out what he had said wrong. "Yes. The elevator. The men who lifted the elevator must have been very strong."

"No one lifts an elevator!" Senku exclaims. "It goes on electricity."

Chrome blinks and looks over to the two copper wheels on the side of the camp.

"Not like that," Senku tries and looks tired. "Larger. Stronger. Made by wind or coal or fission, or even the sun! There was no need for manual labor to create electricity in our time. We had electricity everywhere. In the walls of our houses, on the streets, even up the mountains and in our oceans." There is a pleased longing smile over his features. "It was everywhere. The very lifeblood of our world."

Chrome shuffles and doesn't know how to word his next question because there is a serene look over Senku's face and Chrome just has to ask. "Did you run on it as well?"

They are left blinking at each other. Senku's features don't show shock, but Chrome has a feeling it's just late in its coming.

True to that, Senku's eyes bulge unpleasantly and his mouth gapes open wide. Chrome fidgets nervously and tries to laugh it off. "I guess not…"

Ruffling his hair with one hand, Senku looks off to the side. "No and yes. No in the sense that we don't create electricity and then charge it through our bodies, and yes…" He pauses and presses his hand hard against his face as he contemplates his words. "And yes in the sense that our bodies naturally produce it."

Chrome tilts his head, blinks a couple of times then stares down hard at his own hands. "Electric charge!" he calls out and pushes his hands out hard in front of him.

"The f*** are you doing?"

"Well, you said we produce it naturally. So I just…" he gesticulates and pushes his hands out again.

Senku sighs. "Not like that, idiot. It's internal."

Chrome laughs and continues pushing. There is a tick above Senku's brow and Chrome grins harder and pushes at the air more insistently.

"You're just doing this to annoy me now, aren't you?"

"Just getting my internal electricity to go up. Maybe if I work it like Kinro and Ginro do with the copper wheels I can throw a charge one day."

"It's not magic, you know," Senku says and chuckles. "This isn't a manga. You can't just go all Dragon Ball and throw an energy ball."

Chrome stills and looks over at Senku. "Manga?"

The grin he receives makes him freeze. "Oh, do I have something to tell you. This is 10 billion percent the best invention of all of humanity." The man chuckles deeply. Madly. And Chrome thinks he might have just asked the wrong question.


	7. Chapter 7

He grins, wide and pleased. Totally in his element. The audience is holding onto every word he says. They are on the edge of their seats. The words flow easily from him. Lies. Pitiful, pitiful lies. And the audience believes every word. So gullible. So willing to give money to hear what they wish to hear. They'll walk home pleased tonight. Think they spent their money well. Will tell friends and family what miraculous things they heard, and not once will they stop and question whether it was worth it.

Asagiri Gen doesn't care.

He's a proud mentalist. He seeks out the faintest show of a weakness and goes for it. Many think he's a magician. He's not. He couldn't give less of a care about magic or its supposed arts. For him it's about control. It's about the ability to alter a person to your wishes. Make them say and do things they never otherwise would. It gives a nice tingling pleasure when people tell him they've decided to do something, and in the back, he knows it's his strings pulling the show.

For Gen, this isn't magic. It's not even that much of entertainment either. It's power and it's control. It's nothing but selfish pleasure that pulls strings and watches the weak-willed fall to his bidding.

The show goes on. The audience loves him, and Gen smiles through his eyes and lies through his lips. Tonight he'll walk home richer.

* * *

His roommate is not weak-willed. That's really a shame. They would have gotten along so much better otherwise.

"Asagiri, the fuck did you put my lamp?"

Asagiri glances over the spin of his book. "My, Nakano-chan, there is no need to yell. The room is small enough."

The man, another person in the entertainment business just like most people in the apartment complex, stomps closer to loom over him. "Yeah, fucking small enough for me to know it's you who keeps throwing my nightlamp out."

Gen turns back to his book with a thoughtful hum.

"I swear I'll beat that smug face of yours in one of these days."

"So violent to little old me."

Nakano laughs, sharp and short. "You're just a coldhearted bastard."

"Just doing my business."

The man rips the book from his grip and throws it onto a nearby coffee table. "Fuck you and your business. Where is my god damn lamp?"

Crossing his feet, Gen leans back and gives a once-over over his supposed friend and roommate. "It keeps me up at night."

"So you decided to throw it away."

"We've had this talk before," Gen says with a bored expression on his face. "Your fear of the dark is irrational. You're already in your twenties, isn't it about time you get over it. What do you even fear about it?"

The grinding of Nakano's teeth is loud in their little room. "Fuck. You," he enunciates.

Gen grins dangerously back and says equally slowly, "Your fear is irrational."

"Why do you have to be such an ass about this?"

He can't keep the insulted look from crossing his features. "I'm not."

"You are."

"Well, Nakano-chan, some of us have important work in the morning," Gen says, reaching around Nakano for his book. "Simply, I can't sleep with it."

Nakano throws up his hands with a low pained sound. "And what do you think I can't?"

"It's too bright."

"It's a fucking nightlamp," Nakano grinds out. "Night.Lamp"

"It's bright."

"You're driving me nuts." Nakano drags his hand over his face, pulling lightly on his short bright hair. "I'm gonna kill you one of these days."

Gen isn't impressed. "Uh-huh. With what, your spiky gelled hair?" He flips open his book and glances down to continue reading. "Why don't you just go to that girlfriend of yours."

A pained groan makes him look up, confused. "We fucking broke up like months ago. Fuck you, Gen, don't you pay attention to anyone but yourself?"

"Only important ones."

"I'm out of here. I can't fucking believe you."

Gen considers answering with another retort, but instead watches his roommate storm around like a small hurricane before leaving, the slam of the door resonating through the room. A bitter feeling rises up his throat and Gen swallows it away angrily. He will not feel guilty. The lamp had been driving him nuts. It deserved it's fate in a nearby dumpster.

He didn't know it that night, but it would be their last argument. The next day, the world turned black for Gen. It turned pitch black.

* * *

3700 years is a long time to become familiar with darkness. It's a longtime for anything really. Gen isn't sure how long he remained in a semi-conscious state. It was for a long time for sure, but not 3700 years.

When the world breaks open it burns. From his eyes to the tip of his toes, Asagiri Gen is turned to fire. The sun lays like a curse upon him. Burning in a way Gen isn't used to. Pooling sweat upon his brow and sticking his clothes uncomfortably to his body.

The world he's woken into is a living hell.

Unsanitary and hot. The ground hurts beneath his feet and his skin itches from the bite of small bugs. They fly around him as if they can smell his weakness. They crawl and poke at him and Asagiri Gen's skin has never felt as uninviting.

He has woken into deep cave systems and lush dense forests.

This isn't home. It's not smartphones and high-tech. And air conditioned rooms. It's nothing but bugs and heat and the ever creeping sensation of eyes on the back of his neck.

He follows his new companions, keeping his head down but his eyes up. Everything feels wrong, and the people around him look closer to a mafia gang than entertainers. Young and strong with blank eyes. _And dead brains,_ he adds to himself.

 _Except Tsukasa-chan._ The man's defenses are strong. Gen likes to think of himself as someone who can pick out weaknesses in anyone, but it's only been a few minutes and there are no chinks in this man's armor. At least, no chinks Gen would comfortably pick at without toeing death's line.

The world is all primitive, even the smiles on the other's faces are wild. Their eyes tracking, stalking, and Gen feels like lamb among lions. It's everything he hates and more.

He meets the curious eyes with warm eyes and cold smiles, and watches satisfied as predator looks turn considerate before falling away.

Night falls fast. He has hardly had time to take in the new sunny, bright world before the shill of night sweeps through him. He shivers. A howl goes up in the distance and someone in the cave howls back. Snickers are heard all around.

Gen shifts his clothes around him and moves closer to the fire. His first meal is tangy meat and tasteless soup. He places it to the side and stares out of the cave opening. It's a pitchblack world out there and all he can think of the stupid nightlamp laying in a dumpster bin.

* * *

On his third day, he finds a tree. Old and tall. He had stumbled against it and his hand had come up to trace over grooves. A date. Scratched deep and rough into the tree bark. It's hard proof that Asagiri Gen is not living a realistic nightmare, but a reality. He brushes his thumb thoughtfully over the day, April 1st, and tries to extract a meaning from it.

_A joke? An April fools prank?_

Is this prehistoric forest truly supposed to represent their future? Is this going to be his new reality from now on? "It's a terribly senseless joke," he murmurs and digs the nail of his finger a little harder into the wood.

Someone nearby says something about a "Senku" and "counting" and another scuffs the gorilla woman over her head.

Gen wants to deny many things about his new life, but this new found fascination bubbling up inside won't easily be pushed away. He lets up his nail and soothes over the rough edges.

_Senku-chan, who might you be?_

* * *

"Tsukasa-chan, why did you revive me?" He keeps his voice quiet.

Tsukasa walks before him, long steps that trudge over the ground with stable footing. "I have a job for you. One I think you might fit."

"Oh?"

The man stops at the edge of the treeline. Gen can just make out a building over his shoulder.

"In this world," the man begins, "there is a primitive culture."

"Primitive culture?" Gen tries to imagine it because if there is someone who's primitive it's Tsukasa's little band of merry men.

"Maybe from a petrified that broke out of the stone earlier." He glances over at Gen, cold eyes piercing. "They seem to have no knowledge of our modern world. The pre-stone world."

"No knowledge," Gen mumbles mostly to himself.

"So it would seem."

"And I'm here for?"

Tsukasa takes the last steps into the clearing. It's a beautiful tree hut along with a smaller wooden house on the ground, a board with "Laboratory" written into it. "Wow," Gen steps out and closer. _Why haven't we been living like this? Why the caves?_

"This was built by Senku. He's the one who made the revival fluid. The first one we know of who broke free of the petrification." Tsukasa remains by the treeline, but Gen moves closer, hands skimming over the woodwork and the tightly wrapped twine that holds it all together. _Why the caves?_ He's about to ask, but doesn't get the chance. "I want you to go to the primitive village and see if Senku is there?"

Blinking, he turns around. Tsukasa is still so far away. "Why hasn't someone else already gone if all you're doing is looking for someone?"

"I believe your diplomatic ways might be better at convincing them," Tsukasa says, though his eyes look as if they see right through him.

Diplomatic ways. Gen thinks about his strings and the things he's taken. The things he has persuaded people to let go off; to give to him. Was that diplomacy?

"And if I find him?"

"I want you to report back to me."

There is ice in the man's eyes. Cold determination that sends shivers through his spine. His hands shake ever so lightly. "I understand."

 _It's okay,_ Gen thinks. _It's okay, because Asagiri Gen doesn't care about anyone but himself._

His usual vile pleased grin is nowhere to be seen, instead his hands linger just a little longer on the only tree hut that shows a semblance of modernity in their stone world.

* * *

Late that night, one Asagiri Gen, can be found pressed tight into the base of a tree. There are bushes on either side of him. His eyes are closed and his hands are clapped tight over his ears.

"It's okay. Just nine more hours. Just nine more hours and the sun will rise." His chanting is low. His hands tremble and he shuffles his feet a little closer and presses down on his ears a little tighter.

Gen has never been afraid of the dark. It's a senseless fear. In the modern world he scuffs at it. He kicks out his roommate and doesn't look back because the dark isn't scary and anyone who says differently isn't worth his time.

He shrinks tighter. And for the first time he learns what darkness is. Because it's not just black. It's encroaching and dangerous and his neck prickles from unseeing eyes. Here, he's bait and food. He's blind and just a human. No sharp teeth or sharp nails. Just sharp words that can't win over the stalking dangers of the night.

"Screee!"

He gasps and pushes his head between his knees. He feels the shadow as it comes over him. Feels the wind against the nap of his neck and the sharp talons of prey as it swoops by.

He's uninjured. He's unhurt but his eyes prickle with tears anyways.

"Just nine more hours," he whispers a little more desperately.

* * *

The village is tree huts and organization. And it's everything that's not cold stone caves with cold stone people.

Primitive? He wonders and leans back to take in the smell wafting his way. Ramen.

It's easy to pick out Senku from among the villagers. Easy to tell that he's modern. It's not just the dark cracks running over his brow and over his eyes. It's the way he moves and the way he talks. How he stirs the ramen and laughs.

Gen feels transfixed. Feels like the ground fell out from under him while at the same time like the world just turned the rightside up.

Senku meets his words with a pleased knowing grin. The lies that flow out of him satisfy the villagers, but Gen isn't stupid enough not to realize that Senku sees right through him. He's proud and arrogant and meets Gen's vile smiles with equally vile ones of his own. It's friendship and loneliness and desperate needs to be understood. Between the two of them words aren't necessary.

Gen knows he didn't have to stay. He could have gone back immediately but didn't. One walk through the dark lonely woods is enough.

Senku never asks him about Tsukasa's empire. He doesn't ask for details or reasons. Instead his smile is filled with nostalgia and kind gentle lips. And Gen doesn't understand why Tsukasa deserves such a look after having finally heard the whole story.

"I guess you'll be staying with us," Senku says as he straightens up from whatever scheme he is scratching into the ground.

"What do you mean, Senku-chan?"

"Well, it's too late to try going back now and you clearly came lightly packed." Senku grins and points up at the tall tree hut. "You'll be staying."

Gen has words at the tip of his tongue. He has thoughts and feelings, but in the end, he just stares up at the tree hut, dumbfounded.

_You don't even know me? Why—_

_Why do you invite me in so easily?_

* * *

Senku has plans upon plans, and Gen learns fast that it's best just to go with whatever the younger man has to say.

He says he's gonna make iron and medicine and…

Gen looks down upon his right hand and curls his fingers gently. Senku hasn't specifically said smartphone and Gen isn't really thinking about it, but he is. He's thinking of the constantly missing weight in his hand and the empty sound of music in his ears.

Senku never says modern technology, but Gen thinks of it anyways. Thinks of air conditioners and nightlamps and Tsukasa's kingdom is just a bitter taste of his past in his mouth, now.

And then, one day, the world is lit up.

It's lit up bright and beautiful and Gen's heart starts beating with hope. The darkness slowly being chased away by the slight flickering of the edison lamp situated on top of the hut.

A hidden tenseness drains away. "Wow," he says, breathless.

"Amazing," Kohaku whispers next to him. "Science is amazing."

 _Not science,_ Gen thinks. _Senku is amazing._

It's a small step for civilization. It's a small step, but Senku is looking down at him with a gentle knowing smile and Gen stares back wide-eyed.

Gen laughs weakly, swiping at his eyes before they can tear up. He's the mentalist. It's him who searches out weaknesses in others and uses it for his own gain, not Senku. Yet, it's Senku who found his, and maybe the man is using it for his own gain, but Gen doesn't care because there is light in the darkness now.

It's not like he had thought of going back to Tsukasa anyways. There really was nothing to win over. So, this light doesn't feel so much as a win as a promise.

A promise from Senku to Gen, that in the science kingdom there will be no fear that science can't soothe. And on top of that tree hut, Senku looks more than ready to take on the world, much more so than any of those bumbling primates of Tsukasa's kingdom.

Gen looks at the light and the flickering shadows, and maybe tonight, he'll sleep with a nightlamp.


End file.
